A Father's Bond: Paternity Leave and Modern Parenthood

As a man, you’re naturally in trouble just for being a man. Men are know to be the leaders of the home, the breadwinners and many more. Everyday, we see how our men go out there risking their lives just to make sure we are comfortable at home. Sometimes all the money they make goes into other things leaving them with nothing to even take care of themselves. It’s more like it has grown to become a normal thing which shouldn’t be the case.

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Since we are all fighting for gender equality, I think men also deserve a break. Men deserve to take time off, men deserve to be spoilt and they deserve all the good things we women always want. Talking about pregnancy and childbirth, i believe that once a woman is pregnant, she’s not the only one that is pregnant. Both the man and the woman are pregnant because the man has to walk with her throughout the whole pregnancy helping her out in everything and generally being there for her.

I’ve heard men tell stories about how they had to wake up in the middle of the night to go out to get stuff for their wives just to satisfy their midnight cravings. Let’s not also forget about the hospital visits, the bad days, and many more. If you ask me, for most men who are experiencing this the first time, it’s exhausting for them just as it is for the women. But then, they are known to not voice it out since they are men. After the whole 9 month’s pregnancy journey, everyone is ready for the arrival of the baby.

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But what happens? Only the woman gets to have a maternity leave while the man keeps going to work. Honestly, I didn’t know men also could go on a paternity leave until today because where I come from, I’ve never heard of a man going on a paternity leave. But if you ask me, I’d say it’s very important for men to also get such leave to be able to rest, spend time with the family, bond with them and help his wife out. Most women tend to go through postpartum depression after birth and they need people to help them overcome its .

Imagine a situation where she’s always left at home with the baby while everyone including her husband is away. There’s a high chance the lady’s situation is not going to get better since there’s no one available to help her out. But then, this isn’t even about the ladies because mostly there’s always someone with her. Men’s mental and physical health matters also. After 9 months of ups and downs, he also bound to be worn out and deserves a break cos he’s human. There’s no need acting like Superman when you’re not.

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I believe that all this has to do with the fact that men have been made to have the mindset that they’re supposed to act strong and all of that . That’s is totally fine but they need to rest when there’s the need to. For Ghana, paternity leave is for just 5 days which I believe is very short. If you ask me, I’d say 2-3 months of leave with pay would make sense but even if we are to negotiate, we are going to have to settle at 6-7weeks. Men also deserve a long paternity leave because they’re human. Let’s change the narrative and individuals and encourage our men to go for paternity leave when they have to.

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all images belong to me.

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